Rose Garden

Collections

Descanso’s Rose Garden celebrates this flower’s long history of cultivation and includes roses from around the world. Surrounded by a cool grove of magnificent coast live oak and sycamore trees, you will find more than 1,600 roses planted in a 5.5-acre space along with perennial plants and shrubs such as chaste tree, pincushion flower, daffodils, spuria irises, and seasonal annuals. These lovely companion plants act as food plants for pollinators and predatory insects that help Descanso grow roses organically without pesticides or herbicides.

The garden includes roses from around the world that are suited to the region’s unique growing conditions, as well as old garden and modern roses that represent the centuries of rose cultivation. The collection has expanded in recent years to include many sustainable roses, which are suited to Southern California’s climate.

A distinguished legacy

Descanso Gardens boasts a distinguished rose legacy. When the property was the home of E. Manchester Boddy, the rose garden was managed by Dr. Walter E. Lammerts, who hybridized dozens of roses for the marketplace. Among his noteworthy roses were ‘Charlotte Armstrong’ and ‘Queen Elizabeth,’ whose offspring include many of today’s popular varieties of roses. Many of these varieties can be found in the beds you see as you stroll by the Mission Fountain or walk by the stream.

Descanso’s rose garden is a place for discovery. Stroll the Rose Garden and discover quiet nooks to pause and reflect. Listen to the birdsong and water splashing in the Mission Fountain. Watch children playing in the maze. And breathe deep the fragrance of this most beloved of flowers.